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Most have seen or heard the news that came out of Yahoo.com’s article posted yesterday referencing the FBI’s investigation into corruption of college basketball and the teams and players involved. It is deep and extensive.

“Documents and bank records obtained in discovery during the federal investigation into the underbelly of college basketball detail in meticulous fashion the expenditures of prominent former NBA agent Andy Miller, his former associate Christian Dawkins and his agency, ASM Sports. They include expense reports and balance sheets that list cash advances, as well as entertainment and travel expenses for high school and college prospects and their families.”

I do have to laugh at the sheer stupidity of these sports agents who not only break the laws and rules but document it so damn clearly and well:

Years of payments to individual players, their families and to team coaches are bad enough but here are the individual schools involved and, of course, some huge BB names are involved.

Iowa State??? They are 13-14 this season. Should have saved thier money.

What gets me is that the you would think most of these schools like Duke, North Carolina, Kentucky, Kansas etc… the biggest Top Dog BB schools… could get along well without have to resort to this level of cheating.

Which brings me back to the discussion we had on here after I posted up the article about Pitt’s hiring a 5* recruit’s father. In that I argued that I believed it was a move that should have been avoided… but I also wrote that in the grand scheme of things it wasn’t earthshaking. My belief then, reiterated 100 fold after reading this report, is that sports are meant to be, and should be, an addition to a University’s mandate of higher education… and not a main component of it.

Of course we are talking about Pitt’s recent doings as the size of a flea compared to some of the listed school’s criminal doings that are Indian Elephant sized. And believe me the FBI will find some criminal charges in this case.

But I do have to ask some Pitt fans why they are finger pointing and expressing outrage that these schools and sports agents did these things on such a massive scale when I read some comments almost wishing Pitt would do the same to have more successful football and basketball teams?

I truly hope no Pitt fan actually wants his university to be lumped in with these schools in these pay for play probes… and least I’d like to believe that. But when you start skirting standards, regulations and laws where does it stop?

I believe the reasons for these sorts of cheating on such a massive scale is a lust that manifests itself in desperately chasing championships. Pure and simple. The closer you get to the winning championships the better off your program will be in the long run. But again, why cheat at such an obvious and large extent then?

It isn’t for school pride. Not at all. It is to line the pockets of the head coaches, staff coaches and in a lesser turn, the athletic department principles.

Greed is the reason here. Well, add ego to that also. The more you win the more salary and bonuses you can command. The bigger that pot is the bigger that feed’s into the ego.

Look at the last two seasons’ Top 15 schools and compare them to the list above, 2015 is on the left, 2016 on the right:

You can clearly see which teams were cheating in the Top 15s shown above. Hell, in 2015 alone the final top four schools are on that cheater’s list, and I’m sure we can go back even farther and those same schools will show up time and again.

Notice you don’t see Pitt anywhere on that list, or in the news for any other improper actions that could result in charges or NCAA sanctions. And you know what? I want it to stay that way. No Jamie Dixon references show up anywhere, no paying players to come to Pitt or their family members getting cash to make it happen. Hell, Pitt isn’t in a basketball hotbed area and didn’t cheat and still Dixon had a fantastic won-loss record here. That shows you can have success doing it the right way.

Isn’t that a great thing and something to hang your Pitt Script ball cap on? That’s why I don’t want Pitt to stand anywhere close to the edge of a very slippery slope when it comes to even bending rules to win.

How would you like it if you found out your hard-earned money that you gave freely as donations to the Pitt athletic department were being used to cheat the system? I’d be pissed as hell as I think most of you would also.

People who take this slime covered low road get a taste of it; they get away with it for a while and want more and more from it. As the heroin pushers say ‘Hey kid, this first one’s free.” But it really isn’t. You pay for it over and over again and because you feel it necessary to have to survive you stay with it.

Some coaches, players and family members may not care what their public reputation is as long as their very closed society peer group thinks they are hot stuff and that’s too bad really. Take the money and run and while you’re at it let everyone know what a great player your kid is.

The parents especially disgust me and don’t blow any socio-economic crap onto this. The fact that their kid could get an above-board scholarship with free room and board for four years – to say nothing of a good education, degree and a career after his playing days are over – should be monetary favors enough. But when they take cash or other considerations to get their son to go to a particular school they are pimping their son out just as others pimp out ass.

These actions don’t help the universities and colleges in the long run but truly, when has anyone who actively engages in this level of bad behavior cared about the long run anyway?

Everyone has hard choices in life. You do the next right thing or you don’t. That’s a personal decision and can have great rewards or hellish consequences. I have been around the block about a hundred times and have been exposed to people in every walk of life… from blue bloods to the homeless in the woods to people in their end-of-life death beds and I can say one thing for certain – when someone is in their golden years or on the way out of this life they want to be able to look back and truly know – not believe but know – they were a good person and did what always was proper to help their families and others they associated with.

That is a bedrock of decent community and society. If you look at these stories coming out of the sports world and think ‘it’s no big deal’ then here’s some news – you’ve got a problem of your own.

From the universities of Penn State to Baylor to MSU to these schools now – each and every one of them were created and are sustained to instill knowledge and leadership qualities in their students, and that includes their student athletes.

My God – read this list of the 25 worst college sports scandals and tell me if your stomach doesn’t turn while doing so, and that is just the 25 worse, there are more than that. As far as these latest scandals:

From the NCAA President Mark emmert:

“These allegations, if true, point to systematic failures that must be fixed and fixed now if we want college sports in America. Simply put, people who engage in this kind of behavior have no place in college sports. They are an affront to all those who play by the rules,” the statement read. “Following the Southern District of New York’s indictments last year, the NCAA Board of Governors and I formed the independent Commission on College Basketball, chaired by Condoleezza Rice, to provide recommendations on how to clean up the sport.

With these latest allegations, it’s clear this work is more important now than ever. The Board and I are completely committed to making transformational changes to the game and ensuring all involved in college basketball do so with integrity. We also will continue to cooperate with the efforts of federal prosecutors to identify and punish the unscrupulous parties seeking to exploit the system through criminal acts.”

I had a long conversation about all this with my North Carolina cousins and their spouses over last weekend when I visited down there for their Mom’s 102 birthday (She’s a 1937 Pitt grad and a huge Pitt fan) while they all went to either Duke, North Carolina or North Carolina State. Crazy sports fans all.

One asked me what I would think if Pitt was involved in these dealings – what would I want to happen? My answer was this: I would rather see Pitt football and BB de-emphasized before we had to resort to large-scale cheating to try to win games. I wouldn’t blink an eye. I am firm on that. As much as I love Pitt football and as much energy and time I put into this Pitt football blog I wouldn’t argue if they had to go for the sake of the university’s reputation.

But then again it is easy for me to contemplate that because I 100% believe Pitt won’t ever do so. We talk about the semi-shady dealings that went on with the Majors era team and with Sherrill and afterward with the Golden Panthers and really most of that is way overblown by the fans. Things were slid around a bit but it was nothing on the scale of what we see happening these days – and Pitt has always self-reported anything close to internal impropriety to the NCAA while unbidden to do so. There is a real reason we have such a clean record in that regard and that’s because Pittdoesn’t overemphasize athletics.

Basketball (and football) just aren’t as important to the University of Pittsburgh as it obviously is to the schools on the list above – and when that softer attitude is in place, like it or not, it is easier to play by the rules.

It’s not so easy for my Carolina folks and friends though as they are so immersed in big-time college basketball down there they can’t imagine it not being huge part of their lives. Football not so much, but college BB is King. Although three of them did tell me they have stopped their donations to North Carolina’s athletic department and shifted more into the General fund (and they are the type who can drop big bucks on something like that as opposed to this poor-mouse cousin of theirs).

I like how Pitt comports itself in all ways. I won’t debate the firings in the football program over the last two decades but I’ll say without equivocation that they were done with the University’s good name and sterling reputation in mind as well even over results on the field of play. But show me any other D1 FBS team who got rid of its two most successful and winning head football coaches in a row…

That is unusual in this day and age and while the more rabid Pitt fans may not like or agree with it – that is how Pitt does their business in this regard and I think will continue to do.

Are we squeaky clean? No, I’m sure we have some things not advertised hanging around somewhere, but we aren’t down in the dirt either and that is a world of difference.

The good news for Pitt fans in all this is that if Pat Narduzzi has any sense at all he’ll stay as far away from MSU as he possibly can. Of course Pitt doesn’t fit any sort of institutional model behavior so who knows what may happen then.

Our Pitt Spring Game is going to be on Saturday April 14th this year which means we’ll start spring practices around Thursday March 14th or so. Thank the Lord soon we can get back to talking about real football issues on here again. As every year I’ll try to get up for a few practices and especially this 2018 Media Day which is done so well at Pitt.

After that 5-7 season last year we’ve had a pretty down offseason and people have been testy on here – myself included. Let’s start getting back into the football mode and start taking some detailed looks at the prospective 2018 team and it’s players with fresh eyes and a blank slate. I’ll try my best with that also. Some of our long-term readers and commenters have dropped out of sight for a while and let’s welcome them back with open arms – we need all the best minds on here just as we need to respect everyone’s viewpoints.

Please submit some topics you’d like to see me write about in advance of Spring Practice and keep submitting those great articles for posting – I have used every single one you all have sent in and they have been getting some of the best comments discussions we have had on here, so thank you for that.

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Reed Kohberger
Retired Coast Guard Officer with a lot of time on his hands and working a hobby that he enjoys and is actually free - writing.... on all different sorts of things but mostly Pitt football. You can see my more public articles and essays at WWW.pittblather.com, reedkohberger.wordpress.com and the new Pitt football blog www.pittpov.com.

54 thoughts on “The Shoe Drops on College Basketball”

PITTSBURGH—Pitt head football coach Pat Narduzzi announced three appointments today to complete his 2018 staff. They include:

· The hiring of Cory Sanders as safeties coach. Sanders, who spent last season at Western Michigan and is a former head coach at the Division II level, joins the Panthers as their 10th assistant.

· The promotion of Charlie Partridge to assistant head coach.

· The hiring of Paris Johnson as assistant director of player personnel. Johnson, a former Arizona Cardinals draft pick, most recently was the safeties coach at Savannah State University.

“Cory Sanders really impressed us during the interview process,” Narduzzi said. “We will be adding a young, up-and-coming coach who has outstanding football knowledge and really excels at teaching the fundamentals. Cory is also a relentless recruiter with a great eye for evaluation. He is a great addition to our staff and now gives us two coaches—along with Archie Collins—who will focus on the secondary.”

“In only a year’s time, Charlie Partridge has made a tremendous impact on our program. Charlie is universally respected for the type of leader, coach and person he is. His promotion to assistant head coach is well deserved as he has been so invaluable in so many different areas. We are incredibly fortunate to have him, along with his wife Julie and two wonderful daughters, as part of our Pitt family.”

“I’ve known Paris Johnson for a very long time, dating back to the 1990s when he was an outstanding safety at Miami of Ohio. He then worked for us as a graduate assistant at Michigan State. His experiences as a player and assistant coach will be great strengths for not only our recruiting office but also our entire program.”

Entering his second season on Narduzzi’s Pitt staff, Partridge owns outstanding experience as an FBS head coach, accomplished assistant and renowned recruiter. In addition to his new responsibilities as assistant head coach, Partridge’s positional focus will remain on the Panthers’ emerging defensive front, which returns all four starters and 10 total lettermen for the 2018 season.

This is Partridge’s second tour at Pitt. He originally served under head coaches Walt Harris and Dave Wannstedt as an assistant from 2003-07.

The defensive backs coach at Western Michigan in 2017, Sanders oversaw the development of two All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) cornerbacks, Darius Phillips and Sam Beal. Phillips, who had two defensive returns for touchdowns last season (67-yard fumble and 43-yard interception) played in the prestigious Senior Bowl and is considered a strong NFL Draft prospect.

“I am really energized and honored to accept this opportunity to join Coach Narduzzi’s staff at Pitt,” Sanders said. “The University of Pittsburgh has such great football history and also ranks among the very best academically as well. Coach Narduzzi is building something special at Pitt and I can’t wait to hit the field this spring and start coaching. It will be an honor to walk into schools on recruiting visits wearing that Pitt logo. I’m excited to work hard and help keep the program’s momentum rolling.”

Prior to WMU, Sanders was part of building an NCAA Division II program at the University of West Florida, which played its inaugural season in 2016. He was named the program’s first defensive coordinator in December 2014 and was instrumental in building a foundation for the Argonauts’ opening campaign 18 months later.

UWF went 5-6 in 2016, the most victories for a first-year Division II program in a decade. Sanders’ aggressive defense ranked 11th nationally in quarterback sacks (3.6 sacks/game) and 26th in tackles for loss (8.2 TFLs/game) that season, while Argonauts safety Trent Archie was named the Gulf South Conference Defensive Freshman of the Year.

Prior to West Florida, Sanders spent five seasons (2010-14) on the football staff at Division II Saint Joseph’s (Ind.) College, his alma mater. The team’s defensive coordinator his initial year, Sanders was promoted to head coach for the 2011 season and rebuilt the Pumas into a contender in the Great Lakes Valley Conference (GLVC).

The team achieved runner-up finishes in the GLVC in each of his final two seasons, while featuring a nationally ranked defense. The Pumas also set a school record for single-season total offense (4,594 yards) during his tenure and produced 36 All-GLVC performers.

Sanders initial coaching appointments came at North Central College (2007) and Elmhurst College (2008-09). He coached the defensive backs at both Illinois institutions.

Sanders himself was an outstanding collegiate defensive back. He was a four-time all-conference honoree at Saint Joseph’s and was elected a Pumas team captain three times. Sanders was an instrumental performer for two conference championship teams and finished his career fifth in school history with 30.5 TFLs.

Sanders is a 2007 graduate of Saint Joseph’s with a bachelor’s degree in business administration.

As Pitt’s new assistant director of player personnel, Johnson brings a strong background that includes experience as both a player and coach.

Johnson was a standout defensive back at Miami (Ohio) University, where he earned first team All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) honors at strong safety. As a senior in 1998, he helped the RedHawks to a 10-1 record and share of the MAC East Division title.

Johnson began his collegiate career at North Iowa Community College, serving as a team captain and earning all-region accolades before matriculating to Miami.

In the 1999 NFL Draft, he was a fifth-round selection of the Arizona Cardinals. In addition to Arizona, Johnson also had stints with the Miami Dolphins, Carolina Panthers and Dallas Cowboys.

Johnson returned to college football in 2012, when he served as the special teams coordinator and defensive backs coach at Central State University in Ohio. He went on to work three years (2013-15) at Michigan State, spending two seasons as a defensive graduate assistant under then-Spartans defensive coordinator Pat Narduzzi, and one year as a recruiting assistant.

While in East Lansing, Johnson collaborated with some of the nation’s top defensive units and players. His work with Michigan State’s secondary included time with All-America cornerback Darqueze Dennard, who won the prestigious Jim Thorpe Award as college football’s top defensive back. Dennard was a first-round selection of the Cincinnati Bengals in the 2014 NFL Draft. Johnson also worked with cornerback Trae Waynes, a first-round pick of the Minnesota Vikings in 2015.

During this time, Johnson also completed an NFL scouting internship with the Detroit Lions.

Following MSU, Johnson spent two seasons (2016-17) as the safeties coach at Savannah State University.

Johnson graduated from Miami with a bachelor’s degree in sociology and criminology. He went on to earn his master’s degree in kinesiology from Michigan State.

while I don’t doubt for one bit that Johnson Sr’s hiring had much to do with his son, it’s not that PN took a shot in the dark. If we saw this announcement last week, we would think nothing of his hiring at all

“I’ve known Paris Johnson for a very long time, dating back to the 1990s when he was an outstanding safety at Miami of Ohio. He then worked for us as a graduate assistant at Michigan State. His experiences as a player and assistant coach will be great strengths for not only our recruiting office but also our entire program.”

for us Pitt fans, the one school listed above that may impact us the most is Vanderbilt. If Stallings is in anyway connected, then there may be cause for firing … bad PR. If nothing else, it could be fuel for a limited buyout

And it justifies what we always thought of Jamie, and our respect for him should only be embellsied

You can’t take the socio economic crap, as you call it , out of this. Some f these kids never saw a hundred dollar bill. Some of these kids don’t get 3 meals a day. If you have a skill that will benefit your family right now then I don’t blame them a bit for exploiting it to the highest bidder. I believe these kids should get paid for their services or the nba should start a league like MLB has. If you don’t make it you should have them pay for your education.

This stuff also goes on in football. Maybe less blatant on payments because there’s no shoe companies involved. Everyone knew. I wonder which coaches blew the cheaters in. I like a level playing field. I would like Pitt to care more about sports. Some of the worst hires and most incompetent people have worked in Pitt athletics. Maybe Pitt will finally learn after losing millions in basketball.

Conklins loss is our gain and I like the way the spaces have been filled in the new coaching staff. Partridge move is one way I said might work way back. He has always been solid all around performer. I hope this shows Narduzzies GM aspect of head coaching is clicking. The team and program may advance another step.H2P

Interesting that only three former Big East teams are involved, Seton Hall, Louisville and Notre Dame. Really surprised that holier than thou ND is on the list, not really. Somewhat surprised to not see Syracuse and UConn.

In any case it really makes Jamie’s success at Pitt even more outstanding and his eventual downturn in recruiting more understandable. Still hard to figure why he hired Smoke instead of a guy in the ACC footprint.

I really like the new staff with the one concern being Borbely since a decent O-line is an absolute must for a successful season. Looking forward to much better defensive performance with better coaching and more mature players. Hope that Paris Ford lives up to his reputation. Could be a game changer.

One thing I do agree with Pitt admin on is the need to follow the rules and that sports should not be an embarrassment to the University. To bad so many schools seem willing to compromise their ethics for wins.

How many schools have had to vacate wins and championships? Such a minor penalty. When this happens schools should be forced to shut down the program for five years. That would make them think twice about cheating.

The major issue is one of college sports and just how much corruption is involved. College BB has always had a checkered past But Pitt has a 140 million dollar facility that needs fannies in the seats. The bet on college BB was a mistake by Nordy and no question. Not just not prudent to invest in the sport that your success is subject to a agents runners and sleaze so prevalent in BB. But Stalling will be out this year or next and if people do the right things to fix the massive double dealing and start enforcing the rules all will be better for it. With the next hire being a quality hire, Pitt BB can come back to be a very good program again.

OK, here’s a thought that I don’t even like. This scandal may actually mean we keep Stallings as coach for a couple more years. Here’s why: maybe we can’t be sure who is involved in cheating and will be gun shy to hire anyone who is hot. Yup, maybe all these guys are dirty, and if we are as concerned about image as Reed says, then keeping KS may in fact be the safe play. Crap!!

buyout is unknown at this time but most likely less than $10M since his remaining salary and comp is no more than $8M. My guess is that its closer to $6M and Pitt may even have leverage now that Vandy is one of the schools on the FBI’s hit list. Pitt can also spread that buyout over several years. Its a common practice.

An easy way to check a coach is to ask other coaches. And to look at their recruiting.

Biggest question right now: Will NCAA basketball instill a Too Big to Fail list for the blue bloods like they did with the pedos in football and only slap a few wrists among the big boys? CBS pays like a billion a year for the Tournament. Can CBS default on the contract if they don’t?

We will soon find out if higher education values $ over morals. If I was a betting man I know where I’d put my money…

this will lead to discussions about paying players and breaking away from the NCAA to form a minor league

as I see it, both football and basketball will become minor leagues for the pros among 20-30 schools. the players will get paid equally and there will be no incentive to cheat. the players will not be required to attend class/maintain grades, but will have to live on campus. Its a two-three year program. if the player doesnt leave ‘school’ (aka get drafted), they can enroll in school or just move on.

these will be schools that offer semi-pro programs. Pitt wont be one of them so business as usual. And many true scholar athletes from schools like Pitt will continue to get drafted.

you cant count on the NCAA to regulate, provide oversight and deal out punishment. Too much money at stake with TV contracts and bowl arrangements.

Here’s an angle you you…when Pitt was looking to hire a BB coach, few people like the Miller’s, Hurley’s etc. were interested. Could it be that they know they can’t cheat here? I’m sure the Miller’s were aware of that.

Maybe this is old news but i just that that Miller either sent an email or had a phone call recorded by the FBI where he was discussing a $100,000 payment to an athlete’s family to get the athlete to commit to AZ BB. Is that true?

I agree that this could help us get out of the KS situation since Vanderbilt is listed — however, there might now be a lot of head coaching vacancies that we’ll have to compete with. Miller could be out at Arizona, and there may be several other vacancies if this all plays out.

Many peeps talking from their penthouse. If I can feed my mom cause i can hit a jumper, I would. Everyone making money off you but you. Many these kids should focus on that education but feeding their fams today trumps that

Not all the schools mentioned cheated. These were agents who are allowed to meet with the athletes if they are being interviews to be the players agent. Several school’s players most likely were just that. Their names just appeared on a ledger that they were visited. Vandy fits that bill as the kid declared a month later. Don’t jump to conclusions. While it’s not good to be on the list, it’s not the end all be all. It would make sense some big named programs would be on an agent’s ledger of perspective clients.

It would not surprise me, however, if some of those programs are involved. Just pointing out it’s more complicated than being named in the story.

Sean Miller, Enfield, Bruce Pearl and Boytin at OKST will be the schools with the hardest evidence against them since they were the ones being investigated from the jump … All the other schools are collateral damage from the raids on computers, offices, etc.

As someone noted above, College football is way worse. This should have ramifications on both sports.

To the point above about Duzz, I don’t see anything unethical. Duzz has a relationship with the coach and by all intents and purposes he appears to be a legit, good, coach. Plus, as noted, Duzz is within the rules. Def not a cooncidence but not shady either.

I totally understand your desire for Pitt to avoid even any semblance of impropriety, but to say HCPN should not have hired Paris Johnson is to say that Mr. Johnson would likewise not be able to be hired by ANY D1 school, lest it would appear to be bucking for the talents of his son. That would be discriminating against the father, who is otherwise qualified for a job. Furthermore, it is not against NCAA rules.

I think that unlike football there are two elements that make basketball more susceptible: the fact that one phenom can transform an average team to a contender (Oklahoma) and that there is a huge network of AAU all star teams that have shoe sponsors as well as high school teams that do also. This network is driven by many who see these young men as playing chips to be exploited.

My Dad said brains are all different.. some are meant to be Doctors, teachers or engineers while others are meant to be great in football or basketball… it’s time for the NBA and the NFL to stop PIMPING college ball .. start your own minor league system on your dollar., Nike and Addidas – stick it where the Sun doesn’t Shine.. I want college ball back.. taken away from you whore mongers…..

Reed, Corky is maried to my cousin Frances. He is a graduate engineer from Pitt who played on two of Johnny Mike’s bowl teams as a fine running back in the 1950’s. He loved Pitt then and still does. Thanks for the complimentary comment.

—Pleased, and a bit surprised, that Pitt didn’t just promote one of their grad assistants to the 10th coach spot… I like the idea of bringing in a young, enthusiastic, hungry coach, but someone with a decent amount of coaching experience — even if it is at a lower level of competition…